Rhonda has been extra cute lately! And I can never capture how cute she is in photos. She is that girl who is pretty in real life but unfortunate looking in pictures. But I keep trying. Here are some of Rhonda’s best moments.

Have I mentioned I grew up in a super small town where there was no such thing as cable? I NEVER had Nickelodeon, Disney Channel or Cartoon Network. I also never had a clear reception on Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS or PBS – the only channels we got.

So I did a lot of reading,

And I miss some of those books that got me through long winter and summer breaks. I thought I would pay tribute to those book series that meant so much to me when I was little.

Side note – you will not find these books on summer reading lists. These are fun books. Books that are footloose and fancy free!

1.Sweet Valley Twins – Because of this book series I always wanted another name. My cousin and I would always pretend our names were something different. Especially since both of our names are very ethnic , which according to another book Freakonomics, is a bad thing. Well, now that we are both older and wiser we no longer want to change our names to Kelly or Jessica and we appreciate our totally ethnic original names.

But not in email addresses – Josephina.Montoya@blahblahblah.com really that’s a long email address. Which is something you have to consider these days!

Which brings me back to my original point – sorry for that weird childhood confession – I loved this book series. I loved Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. They made me not only want to change my name but get my tonsils taken out. Seriously you get to eat ice cream all day!

They also taught me the importance of not giving into peer pressure, eating healthy and keeping secrets.

I followed these girls from elementary school to high school – they have a new book out I need to read about their adult years.

2. The Baby-sitters Club – I love those bitches! I totally became a babysitter because of them! I also wanted to be just like Claudia – she was my favorite!

And although I only ever got one babysitting job (small town not a lot of kids – thanks Mary for letting me take care of Robin!) I loved those books. I even got the movie when I was well over the acceptable age to still love those books. But I don’t care! When I have girls or boys who like that genre I will totally give them my Babysitter Club books!

3. Basically anything from Christopher Pike– He had a lot of good books I really loved when I was younger (actually most of his books are probably a little more adult and I should have been reading them when I was a little older) but my favorites are the following:

The Final Friends Trilogy – I loved this series! The main thing I remember from these books is the two of the 45 main characters buying contraceptives! They were going to give it up on graduation night. That’s a no no girls! Bitches who give it in scary/thriller type books/movies always die.

Whisper of Death – This book appealed to me because it was close to an end of the world type book. It also had this disturbing story in the book about a guy who walks down a wall and it keeps getting thinner and thinner until it’s razor thin and he falls and splits him in two! Scared me a little.

Witch – I always wanted powers and so I am drawn to books, tv shows and movies about people with special powers. This is why I loved this book.

I realize now that a lot of Pike’s books had common themes. He was anti-abortion and had an odd sense of what healthy was. Lots of main characters were fat and therefore not as likeable. But whatever I loved his books!

However, I stayed up into the wee hours of the night this week (big mistake, huge hah) and read a summary of the Final Friends Trilogy at this wonderful site and realized how maybe not so great it was! But back in the day I loved this shit!

Christopher Pike Final Friends

4. Anything by R.L. Stine– I love this man! ALL his books got me through elementary and middle school! I read a couple Goosebumps books but latched onto the Fear Street books. Some of my favorites were of course the series.

The Fear Street Cheerleaders – I loved those sisters Corky and Bobbi Corcoran! And I loved all the shenanigans that took place at Shadyside High. Each book it was so fun to try and figure out who was possessed by that pesky evil spirit!

The Fear Street Saga Trilogy – Awww the beginning of all the craziness that happens for year on Fear Street.

And 99 Fear Street: The House of Evil – Totally loved these books.

Basically I read ALL Fear Street books. And some of the others and I loved every single one of them. I still have all these books. Maybe someday I will read them again.

Thanks R.L. Stine for providing me with hours and hours of entertainment and instilling the love of reading in my bones.

Fear Street Cheerleaders – First Evil

Fear Street Cheerleaders – Second Evil

I wanted to be this ghost lady for Halloween for years! My mom and I searched high and low for this red cape but we never found it 😦

And thanks mom who always told me she would buy me a book. ALWAYS! I thought that was so cool! She would not buy me toys or clothes or makeup but she said she would always buy me a book if I asked. And I totally took advantage of that but look at me now – reading is not just a hobby for me but and addiction – a healthy addiction. And I love it!

In a bowl, beat the egg until fluffy. Beat in the remaining ingredients except for the crushed cookies until the batter is smooth. Stir in cookies; mix well. On a pre-heated griddle or pan, cook pancakes until the top gets bubbly, about two minutes; flip and cook the other side.

For the glaze, mix together the confectioners’ sugar and milk until creamy. (If possible, I would try to make the Oreos for this part extra crushed) Add cookies and mix. Pour over pancakes.

This sounds way worse than it is. My knee caps just slide to the side when they should go straight. All I need is to stretch and do some strengthening exercises to strengthen my muscles. I can also tape my knees so it helps the knee cap glide correctly.

But I can run! So that’s fantastic – kind of.

I have a couple goals for the color run:

Don’t come in last

Run the whole way

Have fun – so cheesy but I really do want to have fun and enjoy this so I can continue to run

And I have discovered some awesome running aps that have helped with my goals and I want to share with you!

Map My Run

Map My Run – This does just what it says. It will help you plan your run and keep track of all your running.

Run Keper

Runkeeper – This app helps you keep track of how long you have run, how fast and tells you how many calories. It’s nice because when I run I need to know how long before the next mile so this is perfect because it tells me every quarter mile I run and the time plus my pace. You can set it so that it tells you ever quarter mile, half mile or mile. It also has a “coach” to help you boost your time and endurance.

Couch to 5K

Couch to 5K by Zen Labs – This app helps people get into running. It is an eight week program that alternates running and walking so you can build strength. You only work out three times as week with this app. It’s great and helps a lot!

I was obsessed with the Olympics and stayed up entirely too late every night to see what happened because for some reason if I didn’t I felt like I would be missing history!

On the other hand, I did learn a lot.

I got really good at understanding the rules of Fencing and Archery. I am expanding my soccer I mean football skills – I can now identify offside’s if they go slow. And now I understand the scoring system of diving.

I got really defensive of some of my beloved sports, especially gymnastics! Being a cheerleader my whole life and being required to go to gymnastic as part of that. Also my beloved sister-in-law WAS a gymnast her whole life. And now she is a coach. So when people would say oh that’s easy or I am totally going to train and try out for the next Olympics It totally offended me! Even though 99.9% of those people were just kidding. But those girls work so hard from age 4 to get where they are.

I feel like the only sport you might take up late in life and have an Olympic shot at would be Shooting. And I probably just offended a lot of shooters. Sorry.

I also go mad at the closest person next to me (usually the husband – sorry) when the US was losing. Like they could do anything to help. And as I am typing this the US women’s Volleyball team is sucking it up.

I also go totally emotional for stupid reasons. Any time someone was so happy they won I would feel like I won and maybe I cried a lot little. Any time a country had not won an event in a long time then they did I would cry! When nations came together I would cry! What’s wrong with me!?!

What the Olympics is all about!

I also learned about the people. I noticed that Turkey had some hot athletes. Athletes love to tape themselves up with kinetic athletic tape and it’s made in Albuquerque!

Olympic Athlete Kinesiology Tape

Kerri Walsh Kinesiology Tape

I learned I need to calm down and not be so intense about something that is going to happen again in four years. Actually two for the Winter Games!